Child Infected with Ebola Had Contact With 141 People in Mali

Child Infected with Ebola Had Contact With 141 People in Mali

While the United States continues to ignore the threat of Ebola, and refuses to enact any kind of travel ban for West Africa, the nation of Mali witnessed first hand just how difficult it can be to contain the disease. After traveling from Guinea, a little girl managed to slip past the screening process at the border, despite having symptoms. It goes to show you that even when you try your best to regulate the flow of people, somebody will always slip through the cracks.

The first leg of the girl’s journey took her from the border to Bamako by bus. Six of the 10 passengers remain unknown. She then went to and from the Bagadadji neighborhood in 5-seater taxis, with one person in each taxi ride still unknown. It was not clear from the presentation if those were the drivers.

She then sat by the window on a bus from Bamako to Kayes, and 34 contacts from that journey remain unaccounted for.

Nobody at WHO was immediately available to answer questions about the data contained in the presentation.

Contact tracing is seen as the key to stopping new outbreaks. Nigeria and Senegal have already beaten Ebola by meticulous contact-tracing and regular checks on all the contacts who were identified.

The risk of the disease spreading to new areas comes just as the first glimmer of hope appeared at the disease’s epicenter, with some signs of a slowdown in its spread in Liberia, although the WHO has said Ebola remains “rampant” in Sierra Leone.

What’s truly frightening is how many people are unaccounted for. Less than half of 141 individuals she came into contact with have been found, and only a handful have been tested for the disease.

Also keep in mind, that whatever procedures the nation of Mali has in place to stop the infected from crossing over into their country, they’re still far superior to what the United States has done. We’ve left our borders wide open, and have done next to nothing to prevent the virus from spreading onto U.S. soil. Other Western countries like Canada and Australiahave taken the threat very seriously, and have enacted some of the first travel bans to West Africa. Why can’t we?

Instead, our government is covering its ears, and pretending there’s nothing there. They continue to assure us that everything is under control, while behind the scenes they speak the truth.

So even when a country does its best to stop the spread of a disease, bad thing can still happen. But, what happens when a nation does absolutely nothing to mitigate the risk of a pandemic? Time will tel